National Allotments Week: 'take councils to court to get allotments'

People on allotment waiting lists should take their councils to court if they
are dragging their feet in providing them, the chairman of the National
Allotment Gardens Trust has urged.

The governement has a legal responsibility to provide an allotment to anybody who wishes to have one.Photo: GETTY

By Sasjkia Otto and Stephen Adams

7:00AM BST 06 Aug 2009

Neil Dixon said councils, except those in inner London boroughs, were legally bound to consider providing "a sufficient number of allotments" if there was necessary demand, under the Smallholdings and Allotments Act 1908.

Under the act, if six residents raised the issue in writing, the council would have to take it into consideration. Its decision is open to challenge by judicial review.

“The day it does happen, every council in England will have to sit up and listen because it will set a precedent,” said Mr Dixon.

Richard MacKenzie from Witney is the first person known to challenge his council under the act.

Mr MacKenzie and six other residents waiting for allotments wrote to James Mills, Mayor of Witney, on August 3.

The letter requests that Witney Town Council “acquires more land to supply sufficient allotments for local residents”.

“I would not rule out legal action in the near future,” Mr MacKenzie said.

On average, it takes three years and two months to get an allotment in the UK, according to a recent survey by insurance company LV= (formerly Liverpool Victoria).

More than 100,000 people are on waiting lists, according to the National Society of Allotments & Leisure Gardeners.

Speaking on the eve of National Allotments Week, which starts on August 10, Mr Dixon commented: “There are not enough councils putting their hands in their pockets and supplying land.”

At the moment, planning guidance suggests there should be 20 allotments per 1,000 residents. There is no guidance for the ratio of allotments to the number on waiting lists.

Dr Richard Wiltshire, a geographer at King’s College London and a renowned expert on allotments, said that if councils were not meeting demand then “they can and presumably should be taken to court”.

“If somebody out there has evidence that a local authority is not obeying the law then they have an obligation to bring that to light with the legal system,” he said.

Dr Wiltshire thought councils did not want to free up more space for allotments because of difficulties finding suitable land at the right price. They were also worried that newcomers often gave up after a few weeks.

Cllr Paul Bettison, chairman for the Local Government Authority’s environmental board, said: “Town halls have to make tough decisions every day about where they spend council taxpayers’ money, whether it’s building new homes, looking after the elderly or creating more allotments.”